Dr. Forest is the former Director of Terrorism Studies at the United States Military Academy, and the recipient of several Department of the Army civilian service awards. During his tenure at West Point (2001-2010) he taught courses on international relations, terrorism, counterterrorism, information warfare, comparative politics and sub-Saharan Africa. He also directed a series of research initiatives and education programs for the Combating Terrorism Center at West Point (CTC), covering topics such as terrorist recruitment, training, and organizational knowledge transfer. For much of this time, BG (ret.) Russell Howard was the Director of the CTC, and General (ret.) Wayne Downing was the Center’s Distinguished Chair. Later, BG (ret.) Michael Meese was the CTC Director, and General (ret.) John Abizaid was the Distinguished Chair. Dr. Forest also served as an assistant dean at West Point, under BG (ret.) Daniel Kaufman.

He is an editorial board member of several journals, including Terrorism and Political Violence, the Journal of Strategic Security, and the Journal of Transportation Security, and has published dozens of articles in journals such as Terrorism and Political Violence,Contemporary Security Policy,Crime and Delinquency, the Journal of Strategic Security, the Cambridge Review of International Affairs, the Georgetown Journal of International Affairs, the Journal of Political Science Education, and Democracy and Security

Over the past 15 years he has given talks at the FBI Academy (Quantico), the National Defense Intelligence University, the DoD’s Marshall Center (Germany), the NATO Center of Excellent on Counterterrorism (Turkey), SOCOM, Joint Forces Staff College, National Defense University, several U.S. military bases and dozens of colleges and universities. He has also consulted on counterterrorism strategies, research projects, and training initiatives, and has testified as an expert witness for terrorism-related court trials and for committee hearings of the U.S. Senate.

Dr. Forest received his graduate degrees from Stanford University and Boston College, and undergraduate degrees from Georgetown University and De Anza College. He was born and raised in Idaho, and lives in New Hampshire.